Foxes mourn lost patron
Leicestershire have paid tribute to honorary life president Trevor Bennett who passed away on Thursday.
Bennett was a generous benefactor to the midlands club over many years and played a major role in the development of facilities at Grace Road.
The Hawkesbury Road end of Grace Road is named after him in recognition of his support for the building of the indoor cricket school and the creation of a new car park.
Leicestershire's chairman Neil Davidson said: "Leicestershire cricket, and indeed sport in general throughout the county, has lost a great friend and we are all saddened by the news of his death.
"As a life-long supporter of the cricket club Trevor's contribution at Grace Road was huge, but he was also a generous supporter of sport in general in Leicestershire, especially his other great love football."
"The progress which this club has made in recent years would not have been possible without Trevor's tremendous financial backing and a recent donation to our building fund has boosted our plans to redevelop other parts of the ground at some point in the future.
"He enjoyed many hours of pleasure at Grace Road and I know that he gained a lot of satisfaction out of seeing some of the changes as the club aims to achieve success on and off the field."
Bennett donated £100,000 to launch an appeal to build the indoor cricket school and provided further support to ensure the centre was developed without any depletion of the club's assets.
The Hawkesbury Road end of the ground was renamed the Bennett end in 1993 after another donation of £140,000 led to the construction of the car park and some newly-erected gates.
Bennett was awarded the MBE in the new year's honours list at the beginning of 2005 in recognition of his extremely generous giving to a wide range of causes over a number of years.
Apart from charities, he has supported sport at all levels including grass roots and he is a past President of Leicester City football club, Newcastle United football club and Newcastle Falcons RFC.
